Non‐chemical weed management in organic farming systems

Abstract

Concern about potential increases in weed populations without the use of herbicides has limited the uptake of organic farming. However, as both public demands for organic produce and the pro®le of organic farming have increased in recent years, so too has the range of weed control options. Progress in cultural methods of weed control has included the use of novel weedsuppressing cover crops, and the identi®cation of speci®c crop traits for weed suppression. Direct weed control has also seen developments, with new implements appearing on the market that could bene®t in the future from sophisticated machine guidance and weed detection technology. Advances in novel techniques such as steaming have also been made. Many weed control operations in organic systems present the grower with con¯icts, and both these and many of the most recent developments in organic weed control are reviewed. An increase in our understanding of weed biology and population dynamics underpins long-term improvements in sustainable weed control. The outcome of these studies will bene®t conventional and organic growers alike. Emphasis is given to the need for¯exibility and a combination of weed biology knowledge, cultural methods and direct weed control to maintain weed populations at manageable levels.

Effects of early compost application on no-till organic soybean

“…This correlation has been reported for several species (Bond & Grundy, 2001;Khatounian, 2004;Melander et al, 2005;Charles et al, 2006).…”

Nonchemical weeding of medicinal and aromatic plants

“…Therefore, there is great interest in developing effective alternative nonchemical methods (agronomic, biological and physical) for weed control as developed for certain vegetable crops such as carrots (Peruzzi 2005), spinach (Peruzzi 2006), and leek and onion (Melander and Rasmussen 2001). In organic management, many approaches have been suggested, both direct and indirect, involving a wide range of mechanical equipment (van der Weide et al 2008), biological means, and agronomic strategies (Barberi 2002;Bond and Grundy 2001;Smith et al 2000). Most, however, have not been adequately tested in cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, and their use is not common among farmers, who, without convenient alternatives, tend to solve weed problems by hand weeding, which is an important limiting factor to encourage their organic cultivation.…”

Supressão de plantas daninhas por leguminosas anuais em sistema agroecológico na Pré-Amazônia

“…Embora os efeitos da cobertura sobre populações de plantas possam advir de processos alelopáticos, a formação de barreira física, por meio da biomassa acumulada, diminuindo a incidência de luz sobre a superfície, onde estariam os bancos de sementes, foi considerada a principal vantagem da presença da cobertura por Bond & Grundy (2001) e Hatcher & Melander (2003).…”